Matt Damon in the latest Bourne film, which made him one of Hollywood's most profitable actors

It's official: Matt Damon is twice as valuable as Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe is a dead loss, Adam Sandler is enough to make you weep, and Jennifer Aniston is surprisingly profitable.

After decades spent grappling with how to evaluate the tricky business of an actor's artistic prowess, Hollywood studios now have a handy tool to determine whether to hire a star.

According to the Ultimate Star Payback list, published by the business magazine Forbes yesterday, Damon offers the best box-office return on his salary. For every $1 Damon received in salary his films brought in $29 at the box office. Using the same method, the most profitable woman among Hollywood's A-list actors turns out to be Jennifer Aniston, proving that the critics know nothing when it comes to making money.

Damon's ranking was buoyed by his starring role in the Bourne trilogy. The latest instalment, The Bourne Ultimatum, broke US box-office records on its release last week, taking $70.2m (£35m) on its opening weekend.

The list was compiled by averaging the stars' salary for their last three films and setting it against the box-office takings. Thus Damon, a snip at a modest $26m for his appearance in the first of the Bourne films in 2004, brings a handsome profit: that film took $290m at the box office worldwide, as well as a further $165m in video sales and rentals, against a budget of $75m.

By contrast, the Oscar-winner Crowe suffered for a series of box-office disappointments, bringing in just $5 for every dollar of his salary. Last year's A Good Year cost some $35m to make, a third of which went on Crowe's salary, according to Forbes magazine. The film took just $7.4m at the US box office but once worldwide figures are taken into account, it made little more than $40m.

But it is the biggest earners on the list who must be causing Hollywood's accountants to pause. Tom Cruise, who commands considerably more than $25m a film, brings in just $12 per salary dollar at the box office, as do Will Smith and Tom Hanks, Hollywood's other biggest earners.

Hollywood funnymen, too, are raising few smiles with their contribution to the bottom line. Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey each contribute a meagre $8-$9 at the box office for each salary dollar. This may not be enough to persuade the studios to reconsider financing bloated star-driven comedy vehicles such as Carrey's $100m remake of Fun with Dick and Jane. Including worldwide sales, that film generated just over $200m in income.

The studios will retain a fondness for another big earner, Johnny Depp, who also commands about $20m a film. Thanks to the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Depp comes in as the third most-profitable actor for the studios, just behind Brad Pitt.

The biggest surprise is Aniston, critically panned and regarded as the cause of box-office flops. But her appearance in The Break-Up, which took $270m worldwide, helped boost her earning to $17 per dollar for her average $14m cheque, pushing her above Angelina Jolie, Renée Zellwegger and Reese Witherspoon in the rankings.